I'm sure I'm not the first one who has thought of this but with my squad I would like to benchmark all of my girls. I think it should start at tryouts. I will need to see what level every girl who is trying out is on. The level that they are on stamina and skill wise is a major factor in who to choose for the squad. I feel like benchmarking every girl would be a lot though.
Maybe I should judge the girls on what skill level they are on first. See what kind of tumbling they can do, how their jumps look, how well they can learn a routine, what level stunts they have; then, choose the top girls from that. After I choose the girls with the greatest skill level, see who have the most stamina. But don't choose just based off of who has the best stamina. Before you can choose your girls you need to look at height. Your bases need to be within a few inches of each other so they can be interchanged in stunts. The back spots need to be a little taller than the bases so they can get a grip on the flyer's ankles. I don't think that grabbing the bases' wrists works as well as pulling up on the flyer's ankles. This may sound shallow, but the flyers need to be thin, muscular, flexible, and preferably short.
Another factor to take into consideration is the girls' history. How do they perform in school? Are poor grades going to keep them from cheering? If they are I don't want you. I don't want to put my time and energy into training you if you are going to get benched because of grades. Are you a trouble maker? Do you get into fights? Do you have a problem listening to your teachers? Do you back talk to adults? I don't want you if you have behavioral issues. I am a cheer coach, not a baby sitter. You are a cheerleader, not a hooligan. Do you start a lot of boy drama? Are you constantly changing boyfriends? Are you starting fights between other girls over boys? I don't want to deal with an emotionally distraught cheerleader every other week because she has bad taste in men who keep breaking up with her. I don't want to have to deal with an athlete who is going to ruin the name of the program because she got pregnant. If you can't keep it in your pants, I don't want you to be my cheerleader. And most importantly do all the possibilities get along? Is there one girl that everyone hates? Are there cliques? I want all of my girls to be friends. If they can't all get along then I am going to get rid of the problem child.
I feel like this last point is the most important when choosing girls to be on your squad. You can train for skills and stamina. Height differences aren't going to bring a squad down. It is how the girls behave that matters. It is their attitudes about each other and the program that can run a squad into the ground. If they don't respect their team mates, coach, and the program they are going to be the weakest link and need to be purged from the squad before they do irreparable damage to it.
This following list is a rough list of the things I would like to benchmark my girls on. I believe that starting them at their personal level then helping them progress will help build them not only as a cheerleader but as a person. It isn't a huge deal to me how much stamina my girls have in the beginning as long as they work hard to achieve what I want from them. I can train them to be at the level I want them on. I just need their effort and dedication. I will make a personal workout list for my girls to do on their own that will help them develop their weaker areas. For example, if a girl doesn't have the leg strength I would put frog jumps, wall sits, mountain climbers, and leg circles on her list. If a girl has poor jumps I would have her do frog jumps, leg circles, extra jumps on her own, more stretching, I would suggest jump bands. Every day at practice I would like to do an hour and a half of conditioning, then another hour and a half of dance, tumbling, and stunting. Every 20 minutes they can have a 2 minute water break, and a 1 minute break between each item on the list. I expect each of my girls to be stretched before they start practice. This list seems like a lot to me, but I'm not sure if that's because it is a lot or if it's because my squad didn't condition... like at all. I saw how my squad was with no conditioning and I want to push my girls to be the best possible cheerleaders they can be.
Maybe I should judge the girls on what skill level they are on first. See what kind of tumbling they can do, how their jumps look, how well they can learn a routine, what level stunts they have; then, choose the top girls from that. After I choose the girls with the greatest skill level, see who have the most stamina. But don't choose just based off of who has the best stamina. Before you can choose your girls you need to look at height. Your bases need to be within a few inches of each other so they can be interchanged in stunts. The back spots need to be a little taller than the bases so they can get a grip on the flyer's ankles. I don't think that grabbing the bases' wrists works as well as pulling up on the flyer's ankles. This may sound shallow, but the flyers need to be thin, muscular, flexible, and preferably short.
Another factor to take into consideration is the girls' history. How do they perform in school? Are poor grades going to keep them from cheering? If they are I don't want you. I don't want to put my time and energy into training you if you are going to get benched because of grades. Are you a trouble maker? Do you get into fights? Do you have a problem listening to your teachers? Do you back talk to adults? I don't want you if you have behavioral issues. I am a cheer coach, not a baby sitter. You are a cheerleader, not a hooligan. Do you start a lot of boy drama? Are you constantly changing boyfriends? Are you starting fights between other girls over boys? I don't want to deal with an emotionally distraught cheerleader every other week because she has bad taste in men who keep breaking up with her. I don't want to have to deal with an athlete who is going to ruin the name of the program because she got pregnant. If you can't keep it in your pants, I don't want you to be my cheerleader. And most importantly do all the possibilities get along? Is there one girl that everyone hates? Are there cliques? I want all of my girls to be friends. If they can't all get along then I am going to get rid of the problem child.
I feel like this last point is the most important when choosing girls to be on your squad. You can train for skills and stamina. Height differences aren't going to bring a squad down. It is how the girls behave that matters. It is their attitudes about each other and the program that can run a squad into the ground. If they don't respect their team mates, coach, and the program they are going to be the weakest link and need to be purged from the squad before they do irreparable damage to it.
This following list is a rough list of the things I would like to benchmark my girls on. I believe that starting them at their personal level then helping them progress will help build them not only as a cheerleader but as a person. It isn't a huge deal to me how much stamina my girls have in the beginning as long as they work hard to achieve what I want from them. I can train them to be at the level I want them on. I just need their effort and dedication. I will make a personal workout list for my girls to do on their own that will help them develop their weaker areas. For example, if a girl doesn't have the leg strength I would put frog jumps, wall sits, mountain climbers, and leg circles on her list. If a girl has poor jumps I would have her do frog jumps, leg circles, extra jumps on her own, more stretching, I would suggest jump bands. Every day at practice I would like to do an hour and a half of conditioning, then another hour and a half of dance, tumbling, and stunting. Every 20 minutes they can have a 2 minute water break, and a 1 minute break between each item on the list. I expect each of my girls to be stretched before they start practice. This list seems like a lot to me, but I'm not sure if that's because it is a lot or if it's because my squad didn't condition... like at all. I saw how my squad was with no conditioning and I want to push my girls to be the best possible cheerleaders they can be.
- Suicides-----------------------------10 minutes
- Bear crawl--------------------------5 minutes
- Burpes-------------------------------5 minutes
- Frog jumps-------------------------5minutes
- Wall sits-----------------------------5 minutes
- Mountain climbers-----------------5 minutes
- Planks--------------------------------5 minutes
- Hand stands-------------------------5 minutes
- V-up----------------------------------150
- Leg circles--------------------------5 minutes each
- Laps----------------------------------10
- Crab dips----------------------------5 minutes each
- Splits---------------------------------5 minutes each
- Push ups-----------------------------50
- Sit ups-------------------------------150
- Box jumps--------------------------5 minutes
- ladders-------------------------------each set twice
- Toe touch----------------------------5 perfect in a row
- Hurdler------------------------------5 perfect in a row
- Herkie--------------------------------5 perfect in a row
- Pike-----------------------------------5 perfect in a row
- Kicks---------------------------------100 each side
- Flexibility/ Balance (What can they pull?)
- Back bend
- Lib
- Heel stretch
- Scale
- Arabesque
- Scorpion
- Chin- chin
- Bow and arrow
- Needle
- Tumbling (Note: Do not choose cheerleaders just based off tumbling ability. Tumbling can be taught, a love of the sport can't. If a girl really loves to cheer but has a significantly lower skill level than the rest of the squad do not immediately dismiss her. She may have a lot of untapped potential that you would just be throwing away)
- Cartwheel
- Round off
- Aerial
- Handspring
- Tuck
- Layout
- Full
- Double Full
